policy president since richard nixon. hillary clinton was given very true truly cons quential issues to manage. kerry may be in a better situation because it's legacy time and obama is trying to figure out what do todo on the domestic side. he might turn john kerry, who is quite capable, into a manager in chief on the israeli/palestinian issue. >> jamie: let me focus on that. what is realistic, aaron? the palestinians want settlement building to stop. benjamin netanyahu says no. can we ever get them to the table with preconditions? >> no, not with preconditions. i think the president really dodged the one headache he created for himself in the first term, when was to demand a comprehensive settlement freeze, which no israeli prime minister would agree. to so i think you will not see a resumption of formal negotiations. you will see quiet contacts between the israelis and palestinians and a lot of frequent flyer miles for john kerry, having separate conversations with the israelis and the palestinians to see whether or not